From the course: Artificial Intelligence Foundations: Neural Networks
Artificial neural networks
- [Presenter] An artificial neuron is a mathematical function where each neuron takes inputs, weighs them separately, sums them up, and passes to some through a non-linear function to produce output. When we say non-linear, think of its opposite which is linear or a straight line. So non-linear will not be a straight line through a set of data points. Here is an example of a linear model where we have the number of personnel versus employee cost, and a non-linear model, which is population growth over time. All neurons have three basic functions, receive signals or information, integrate incoming signals to determine whether or not the information should be passed along, and communicate signals to target cells, which are other neurons or muscles or glands. The artificial neuron has the following characteristics. One or more inputs are separately weighted. Inputs are summed and passed through a non-linear function to produce output. Every neuron holds an internal state called an activation signal. Each connection link carries information about the input signal. Every neuron is connected to another neuron via a connection link. Let's take a look at the single layer perception in the next video to understand how artificial neurons lay the foundation for artificial neural networks.